FROM MONDAY February 2 to Friday 7, Galway theatre-goers will get a rare chance to see works from the great writers, Harold Pinter and Edward Albee, when two of their best-known plays, The Dumb Waiter and The Zoo Story are performed in the Town Hall Studio.
The plays will be performed by four of Galway’s most accomplished actors; Frank Campbell, Duncan Lacroix, Liam Heffron, and Pat Collins, under the direction of Patrick McEneaney.
These two one-act plays opened within one week of each other on opposite sides of the Atlantic in January 1960 but the themes of man’s struggle to emancipate himself from the shackles of society are timeless.
The Dumb Waiter is the story of Pinter’s most hilarious double act, Gus (Campbell ) and Ben (Lacroix ) two fumbling partners waiting for instruction from their employer. It’s a play of miscommunication, status and power, driven by Pinter’s masterful use of language and wit.
They hide behind the small talk for fear of showing anxiety. Their inability to make a cup of tea, their absolute belief in the truth of the stories they read in the paper, and their confusion about which football team is playing away cover up a sequence of events that are mystifying in their absurdity.
In Albee’s The Zoo Story, Jerry (Heffron ) and Peter (Collins ) meet in the park. Jerry, a social outcast and Peter, the conformist moving into a comfortable mid-life, have a chance encounter that will change their lives.
The realism in Albee’s wonderful duologue, about the outcasts’ inability to communicate with a dog, never mind a human being, allows Jerry the opportunity to express himself frankly, humorously and with subtle truths about the loneliness of the human condition.
“I’ve been wanting to direct Pinter ever since I acted in productions of The Birthday Party and Old Times in Barcelona a few years ago,” says McEneaney as he discusses his production. “I love the way he uses language. So I’m delighted to be getting the chance to do The Dumb Waiter.
“I think it makes a good double bill with Zoo Story - the two plays have a similar subject matter. I’m really enjoying working on the plays in rehearsal at the moment - I’ve worked with these four actors before and they’re not afraid to challenge themselves. It’s been great fun so far!”
McEneaney reveals that he has relocated the action of Zoo Story from New York to Dublin to add some measure of local atmosphere and his staging of The Dumb Waiter also acquires some topical piquancy given the recent death of Harold Pinter.
The two plays should make for a diverting and absorbing double bill.
The production starts at 8.30pm. For ticket information contact Town Hall Theatre on 091 - 569777. Group rates are available.
